Renovations Build Hard-hat Club

Fantastic Friday - Training Camp Preview - Introducing the Magic

Some Things Have Changed Since The Final Buzzer Sounded Last Season. The Coach Is New, And He Promises A New Emphasis On Defense. The Star Is Playing A New Position, And Beside Him Will Be A New Point Guard Who Brings A Wealth Of Experience. Starting Today, The New-look Magic Will Try To Reach A New Pinnacle - The Nba Title.

October 3, 1997|By L.C. Johnson of The Sentinel Staff

Having scrapped their original blueprint for winning an NBA title once center Shaquille O'Neal left a gaping hole in the franchise's foundation, the Orlando Magic are prepared to introduce Phase II of their rebuilding plan.

New coach Chuck Daly will introduce a hard-hat mentality to his club as the Magic begin training camp today with the first of several two-a-day workouts at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex.

FOR THE RECORD - ***************** CORRECTION PUBLISHED OCTOBER 4, 1997 ******************Because of an editor's error, Orlando Magic player Gerald Wilkins was incorrectly listed on the training camp roster in Friday's Sports section as fighting for a job. Instead, he should have been listed under ''front-runners'' for playing time.*****************************************************************************

General Manager John Gabriel has worked for 15 months to restore the faith, talent and respect to the Magic. He lured Daly out of retirement and added Julius Erving as executive vice president. He also crafted a roster that could be the most-talented group ever here.

''We're very happy at what we've been able to accomplish with this team,'' Gabriel said. ''When Shaquille left, we only had two months to try to recover from that (for the 1996-97 season) when, in fact, we knew that it would take at least a year to rebuild this team.''

The Magic have tweaked the roster just enough to instill positive change without starting over. They re-signed free agents Nick Anderson, Derek Strong, Gerald Wilkins and Danny Schayes. They drafted rookie forward Johnny Taylor and center Jason Lawson; signed forward/center Bo Outlaw, a free agent who could make an immediate impact; and traded forward Dennis Scott to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Derek Harper.

With team leader Penny Hardaway's anticipated move to shooting guard, he is expected to provide more excitement and leadership and could challenge Michael Jordan for a scoring title. Still, he has bigger plans.

''I've talked to Chuck and we both have the same goals - to win,'' Hardaway said. ''I think this is the best team that we've ever had. We've completely changed from the team we had when Shaquille was here. When we had him, we would just try to outscore people. Now, we're going to come out with more of a defensive mentality, and I think that will make us a better team.''

Center Rony Seikaly, recovering from ankle surgery, and Anderson, moving to small forward and coming off an emotionally draining season, also could add more offensive punch. Orlando invited 18 players, 14 with guaranteed contracts, to camp to compete for 12 roster spots.

''Just because a guy has a guaranteed contract doesn't guarantee him a spot on the team,'' Daly has said.